Open Or Quit Terminal On Mac - Apple Support

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macOS Tahoe 26 macOS Sequoia 15 macOS Sonoma 14 macOS Ventura 13 macOS Monterey 12 macOS Big Sur 11.0 macOS Catalina 10.15 macOS Mojave 10.14 macOS High Sierra Select version: macOS Tahoe 26 macOS Sequoia 15 macOS Sonoma 14 macOS Ventura 13 macOS Monterey 12 macOS Big Sur 11.0 macOS Catalina 10.15 macOS Mojave 10.14 macOS High Sierra Modifying this control will update this page automatically Search this guide Clear Search Table of Contents

Terminal User Guide

• Welcome
• What is Terminal?
• Get started
• Work in Terminal windows
  • Open or quit Terminal
  • Open new Terminal windows and tabs
  • Execute commands and run tools
  • Specify files and folders
  • Redirect Terminal input and output
  • Correct typing errors
  • Drag items into a Terminal Window
  • Use window groups
• Customize Terminal
  • Change settings
  • Use profiles to change the look of Terminal windows
  • Specify default and startup Terminal window profiles
  • Set an audio or visual alert
  • Limit the number of scrollback rows
  • Import and export Terminal profiles
• Use automation and scripts
  • Intro to shell scripts
  • Make a file executable
  • Script management with launchd
  • Automate tasks using AppleScript and Terminal
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Copyright and trademarks

Terminal provides a command-line interface to macOS. Each window in Terminal represents an instance of a shell process. The window contains a prompt that indicates you can enter a command. The prompt you see depends on your Terminal and shell settings, but it often includes the name of the host you’re logged in to, your current working folder, your user name, and a prompt symbol. For example, if a user named michael is using the default zsh shell, the prompt appears as:

michael@MacBook-Pro ~ %

This indicates that the user named michael is logged in to a computer named MacBook-Pro, and the current folder is his home folder, indicated by the tilde (~).

Open Terminal for me

Open Terminal

On your Mac, do one of the following:

• Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Terminal in the search field, then click Terminal.

• In the Finder , open the /Applications/Utilities folder, then double-click Terminal.

Once you open a Terminal window, you can execute commands and run tools.

Quit Terminal

1. Go to the Terminal app on your Mac.

2. Choose Terminal > Quit Terminal.

Quit a shell session

1. Go to the Terminal app on your Mac.

2. In the window running the shell process you want to quit, type exit, then press Return.

This ensures that commands actively running in the shell are closed. If anything’s still in progress, a dialog appears.

If you want to change the shell exit behavior, see Change Profiles Shell settings.

See alsoChange the default shell in Terminal on MacOpen new Terminal windows and tabs on MacUse profiles to change the look of Terminal windows on MacApple Developer website: Command Line Primer Helpful? Yes No Character limit: 250 Please don’t include any personal information in your comment. Maximum character limit is 250. Submit Thanks for your feedback.